Seems like a long way of saying "yes"! The total gun batteries equalled the total combat units. 7 Bde got an extra battery (3 to 4) because they got an extra combat unit (3 to 4). Let us not confuse the issue with sub-units! And 3 Cdo brigade had 2 batteries (instead of 3)because they had 2 combat units (instead of 3). And the HQRA in 1 Div was arty brigade HQ except that its not called a brigade because the arty assets use the Divisional logistics. Just two other points. "the idea of fixed UK div orgs in war died in about 1945" Or in 1956 when 3 Div deployed entirely to Suez. Or in 1962 when 3 Div deployed entirely to Iraq. Or perhaps 1991 when 1 UK Div deployed in its entirety to the Gulf. The only reason 20 Armed Brigade didn't deploy was it was cannibalized of troops and equipment to bring 4th Bde and 7th Bde up to strength. And because it was the maximum force UK logitics could support, even if the Dutch hadn't refused to sell you ammunition. Sad, but true. By 2003, 1 UK Div had been cut further (losing 3 of 7 heavy armor regts since 1991 and due to lose another soon) such that only 7th Bde is really an armor heavy brigade; both 4th (soon to become merely mechanized) and 20th were never really armor brigades, but infantry heavy. In fact, once 7th Brigade had been reinforced with units from 4th and 20th there wasn't a lot left. So it was appropriate (and necessary) to give it a lighter tasking by adding 3 Cdo and 16 AA Bdes. "MLRS units" MLRS is mostly now held in your TA units.

Does my time as an infantry company commander, mechanized infantry battalion S3 Air, division tactical command post shift OIC, and, oh yeah, completion of the US Army's field artillery officer's basic course by correspondence, US Army Infantry Mortar Platoon Leaders Course, US Army Infantry Officers Basic Course, US Army Infantry Officers Advanced Course (Honor Graduate), US Army Command & General Staff Officers Course and US Air Force Air Ground Operations School count? :-) Your terminology works well for NATO/UK/ Commonwealth military and doctrine, but it does not align with US military doctrine. You will notice that in answering Roman, I gave my answers couched in terms of US doctrine. Having said that, I reiterate, the US Army uses the dedicated battery only in rare instances (support of an air assault raid, etc.). Maneuver units are given priorities of fire IAW the maneuver plan. If Company A has priority of fires for DS artillery, that means that unit gets it and trumps Company B or Company C. The brigade fire support officer then needs to find other fire support assets for that unit. No one is left without fires as a theory but it can happen.

In SVN the US generally devolved artillery control to battery level, which was tactical sensible and reflected the needs of the theatre. It also meant that batteries (and for 175mm and 203mm platoons) had to operate their own 'FDCs' for technical fire control. Of course it did not stop batteries' fire being concentrated into battalion fire missions when necessary (I don't know if divisional missions per se were fired but Khe Sanh would suggest yes and M110 and M107 platoons being deployed indedendently certainly meant that they added their fire to that of a 105/155 battalion. IIRC it even went further than that, in some cases arty battalions converted themselves in theatre from 3 firing btys to 4 without any increase in equipment or manpower. Furthermore, de facto, observers mostly stopped requesting fire, they ordered it to their battery FDC. Of course after SVN the BCS was introduced because the light seems to have finally dawned that battalion level FDCs weren't perhaps the complete answer (jeez that only took 45 years:-), much of the software being written in UK by MCCS as sub-contractor to Norden who were basically hardware (but MCCS Scottish factory made some as well). I admit to a hazy memory on Kuwait in 1962, but IIRC only 16 Para Bde went. The 'division' that went to GW1 in 1991 was based on 4th and 7th Bdes, only 7 Bde was part of 1 (Armd) Div's ORBAT in 1 (BR) Corps (11 Bde and I think 22 Bde were 1 Div, 20 Bde was never in 1 Div, try 4 Div, 4 Bde was corps reserve and part of 3 Div) and other units were taken from various places in the Brit army, not least the 'light infantry' bns that were deployed at the last moment. As for the arty, well 26 Fd Regt that went in the GS role was actually a DS regt in 3 Div's ORBAT! Not sure who owned 39 regt, but their conversion from M110A2 was rushed and they may still have been Arty Div tps. Suffice to say that suggesting that either 1962 or 1991 UK deployed standard ORBAT divs is complete and utter twaddle. Unfortunately I haven't got any Suez information to hand but I'd be amazed if '3 Div' went complete and without additions/deletions (16 Para and whatever RM Cdo fmn it was that also participated, but the operational level comd structure is unknown to me). Last time I heard the Brits had acquired 6 btys worth of MLRS (ie WE of 54 SPLLs, plus trg, WMR, etc, with 20(?) LIMAWS(R) on order), 4 of those btys remain in the Reg Army (all in one regt since consolidation), the 2 btys worth in the TA are actually split into 3 btys, one of which produces individual reinforcements to the reg batteries. My maths must be going a bit strange if this constitutes a majority. The sensible way to understand the Brit army is bottom up, top down ORBAT takes you in the wrong direction every time. Since they introduced standard SOPs for units and fmns (on top of long standard trg publications since before WW1) in about 1983 it's been reasonably easy to 'mix and match' into fmns at short notice.

Afternote. The Dutch never refused to sell ammo to UK in 1992, Belgian did, it didn't matter (actually its an interesting question as to what ammo this was, best guess is 203mm because UK never had operational stocks of this HE, BE doesn't produce any 155mm ammo used by UK and NL only produced M483, of which UK had large stocks). Reportly the Swiss refused in 2003 to sell UK 40mm GL ammo. During SVN Sweden refused to sell Aust 84mm CG ammo. In GW2 the UK deployed no GS arty, reportedly they was an agreement with the MEF about the availability of the MAW. Cynics might also suspect that UK didn't want to deploy MLRS because of the blinds problem. Furthermore there wasn't a DS bty for every inf bn, the div res bn, light inf, didn't have one. However, the system was flexible enough to cope.

In the US army artillery is organized in battalions and brigades. A division has a de facto artillery brigade but it is called the Division Artillery (Divarty). In a Mech/Armored division this would be: Divarty HHB, 3 cannon battalions, 1 MLRS battalion (2 rocket batteries and a TAB(target acq- 3 q36 & 2 q37 radars)). Keep in mind this is the standard, but units are equipped under Modified TO&E, so some will vary. Non-heavy division will have lighter towed howitzers and maybe a 155' battery or battalion. The rule of thumb for artillery support is a minimum of one battalion in direct support of a committed maneuver brigade; this is rarely enough. For additional support there are artillery brigades. The Corps Artillery HQ will have as many artillery brigades attached as is warranted by the corps mission. Technically, only a brigade consists of only the HHB. Battalions will be attached as needed. Remember that organization and equipment is in an almost continuous state of change throughout the army; by the time one change is complete through the entire force a new change will have begun somewhere else.

What D-TAC were you in? I was in 1 cav FSE for a couple of years then moved on up the main (what a monstrosity) was there during MG Shinseki (spicey soup time), LaPorte (cigar time)and others I can't recall at the moment. What a difference from the world of a company FS sergeant!

late 1988 to mid 1989 in the 24th ID

Hi all As to palnning for natios artillery/indirect arm. IH your coutry is small (like israel) you can use CAP aeroplanes to provide firesupport as needed, plus side is that they can move around quickly. Alsop battlefield needs to be open and generally fighting will be fluid. In large tracts of land it is better to have some artillery attached to units. then you get more enduring firesupport and accurasy plus all weather capability. LArge tube arty is ideal for forested countries were fighting will not be too fluid (Sweden, Finland, Russia) and you have lot of units. Organizationwice. If recollection serves USSR style artillery has 4tubes/battery and threes batteries/arty batallion. firing unit is batallion (I might be wrong in this part ). Arty divisions were operationally used for shock armies to punch holes in defence. but there were those usually attached to army. ie 3rd schock army. In FDF you have platoon in infantry company two 82mm tubes. inf. batallion has mortar company of 6 120mm tubes. Brigade has arty regiment of two batallions (18 tubes each another at 122mm and another at 152mm). To this regimetnt and indeopendent batallion is attached another 18 guns 130mm or 155 mm. These indpendets battallions can be moved around to create schwerpunkts. And arty regimet can handle up to 25 batallions......

U.S Army Units are defined by Tables of Organization and Equipment (TO&E's). This is a list of all , personnel, skill levels,and equipment that the unit is supposed to have, right down the last bayonet. When a commander assigns a unit a task, he does so assuming that the unit has full capbility, based on the TO&E. If you want to review the make-up of any U.S. Army unit, check out the TO&E's at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/toe/ They also list the general mission, the organizational structure above and below, and the regulations the unit operates under. The Army presently has Artillery Batteries (companys), and Battalions, but no Brigades. Artillery units above these are assigned as Division or Corps Artillery units. Hope this helps, Texastillidie

Tex: The army has quite a few artillery brigades, though not near as many as there once were. It's sad looking at the artillery locations pullout map in the FA Journal Redbook, it just keeps getting more and more white space. Back in the 'good ol' days' the argument was a brigade for every committed maneuver brigade, (thats above and beyond the DS battalion). Ahh, but times, technology and tactics change.